EU Council to assess Russia’s actions on demands on Ukraine July 1

Simultaneously, efforts would continue to de-escalate the conflict

BRUSSELS, July 01, /ITAR-TASS/. EU Council is expected to hold a meeting at the level of ambassadors Tuesday to assess Russia’s actions on the four demands put forward by the EU regarding the de-escalation of tensions in Eastern Ukraine, Maja Kocijancic, the press secretary of the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton told Itar-Tass.

She said the EU Council was getting down to assessment of the situation and she expected the first step to be made Tuesday at a session of ambassadors of the twenty-eight member-states in Brussels.

Simultaneously, efforts would continue to de-escalate the conflict, Kocijancic said.

After the signing of an association agreement with Ukraine June 27, the EU summit formulated four conditions for Russia and threatened with considering new sanctions if Moscow did not live up to them.

The four conditions the EU specified included a mechanism for monitoring the ceasefire and imposition of efficient control over the Russian-Ukrainian border under the supervision of a mission knocked up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), return of control over three border-crossing checkpoints (Izvarino, Dolzhansky and Krasny Partizan), release of all the hostages, and the launching of comprehensive negotiations for implementation of the Poroshenko plan.

If Russia did not fulfill all of these demands, the EU would ready to hold a summit conference at any moment to discuss sanctions against Russia.

A diplomatic source in Brussels told Itar-Tass the EU leaders would have to gather for a new summit in order to impose new economic sanctions on Russia while the list of Russian government officials and representatives banned from entering the EU could be extended by a simple ruling of the Council.

The sanctions against separate sectors of the Russian economy, which the European Commission and the foreign policy services drafted back in May, is believed to include proposals on restricting the exports of technologies and equipment for the oil and gas industry to Russia.

At present, the so-called phase two sanctions against Moscow are in effect. They include bans for certain officials to enter the EU and to do financial transactions at European banks.

The blacklist of Russian officials has sixty-one names - Russians as well as a number leaders of the pro-federalization movement in Eastern Ukraine.